my tears ricochet

Chapter Fifty Four

It was still night when Ivy woke up, jarred by a strange feeling in her chest. She looked around the room and saw her family spread out, candlelight casting the room in a golden glow. The church felt small and safe, big enough for their numbers to stretch and adjust, coming together in the shelter it provided.

Her hand still ached, feeling the memory of Daryl slipping free when they dragged him out of the train car. Ivy had gone wild with rage, smashing her good fist against the door until Abraham caught it and made her stop. The man was still awake with a bottle of wine in his hand, passing it back and forth between him and Rosita. He seemed content with playing with the end of one of her braids, oddly gentle as he rubbed his thumb over it. Ivy didn't often see Abraham in silence but it suited him, the vague look of contentment as he fixated on the woman's glossy black hair.

Something wasn't right.

Abraham and Rosita sat across on a pew that they had shoved temporarily to widen the space up. Just beyond the one end, Ivy could see Glenn with Maggie and Beth, their small family compact and whole. Daryl was asleep beside her and she started counting bodies, coming up one short.

Where was Oscar?

He had been there at dinner, drinking wine and handing out food. Something had gotten his attention hooked on the peaches, recreating the meal he had once made after Axel's awful death. The sweetness had been a luxury, stale granola and brown sugar, complete with slivers of peaches. Oscar had laughed at a joke Ivy hadn't heard properly but then he hadn't been there anymore.

Gently, Ivy eased free from the arm keeping her against Daryl's side. His crossbow was propped up against his ankle and it shifted as she made her escape.

She counted the people again and Oscar still wasn't there.

Her shoulder ached and she grimaced, walking softly through the church to get to the one side where the door was. Gabriel had locked it already and Rick had tested it himself, jiggling on the doorknob to make sure it didn't give. Beth had once pointed out the noise she made when she walked, unaware of the sound she created, and Ivy tried to be careful, drawing the bar back slowly so it wouldn't click before opening the door up to the darkness itself.

The shadows loomed dense, equal to the ones in the train car. Beth and Ivy had spent their journey sleeping back to back with weapons in hand, uneasy with the threats they couldn't see. Packs of walkers roamed the highways and they never knew what was coming around the bend. A bit of light from the candles managed to cut a path of visibility down the steps and she squinted into the yard.

There was nothing. Trees trembled from a slight breeze and she stepped down, bracing herself by pulling out her switchblade and flicking it open. "Oscar?" She called soft, risking a few more steps. "Oscar?"

Something shifted from the darkness and Ivy dug her feet into the ground, watching as a walker ambled it's way through the bushes. It's long skirt caught briefly on a branch before pulling free, already in tatters from the journey of it's body. Her heart pounded as she remembered the fear of getting caught by her good arm and held helpless until Daryl intercepted the danger.

It's mouth twisted as it came near and she let it, waiting until it was in range to kick at. Her steel toe boot caught it by the knee and it went down, kneeling as the body tried to pick itself up again. Ivy drove the blade down through the skull, bone brittle with decay, and it crumpled to the ground with a streak of black blood. Her hand halted as she smelled an oddly sweet scent, chemical with a touch of false-woods.

Something grabbed her from behind and she screamed, jerking like an animal caught in a trap. The man forced her around before dodging her fist, neatly catching it before forcing her hand to touch his vest. Daryl, she realized stupidly. Instantly her panic dissolved itself, feeling the way the man smoothed a hand over her hair in return.